Far away in the distant future, when we start to recount the events of our times, we will find that in the entire history of mankind, there has been no age like the present AGE OF CORONAVIRUS IN THE YEAR 2020. There have been natural calamities like storms, avalanches, hurricanes, tsunamis.
There have been diseases like plagues, cholera, SARS etc. and catastrophes like, battles, wars, terrorist attacks, atomic bombing and nuclear attacks, but there has been nothing, ever, whatsoever like the present pandemic of coronavirus or covid-19, in its extent of effect on global area, the entire world population comprising of all the about 200 countries of the world as well its continuing sway over almost the entire period of the year 2020.
As of date, it has Globally infected, about30 million*people so far and still counting actively on daily basis, out of which there have been 930 thousand deaths* (and still counting on daily basis).
The picture for India is also equally sad. As of date, there have been about 4.8 million infected people out of which, about 3.4 million have been cured and there have been about 80 thousand deaths so far. But the pattern of deaths (as on 22nd August 2020) as given by Government of India and published by Hindustan Times in its issue of 2nd September 2020(authored by Sanchita Sharma) as depicted in the graph below is very grim:(as on 14th September 2020)
As per the graph above, about 90% of the deaths occurred above the age of 41 and above, 76% above the age of 51 and above and about 52 % above the ages of 61 years and above.
POSITIVES OF CORONAVIRUS LOCKDOWNS:
1. Obviously therefore, Senior Citizens were the most vulnerable of the lot, and counting the positives, we are thankful to the Government for its foresight in restricting the movement of Senior Citizens during the lockdowns, and thus, possibly saving their lives. The slogan coined by our Hon. Prime Minister, “JAAN HAI TO JAHAN HAI” has proved very appropriate.
2. Since we are no longer counted as ‘Economic Assets’ and the Economic Downturn did not affect us, we were completely relaxed and followed our normal routines, rested ourselves for 3-4 hours a day and were quite in our comfort zone.
3. We worried less for the sake of our children going to offices and/or grandchildren going to schools/colleges because they did not have to suffer pollution, fatigue, and many other risks due to commuting to office/school.
4. We adjusted well in the family surroundings and became a cohesive unit once again.
Written By : Mr. K.D Bhatia
Senior Citizens Society, Neb Sarai
Sir…thank you for sharing the feelings from a senior citizen point of view which clearly indicates the true spirit towards living even in tough times with so much faith, trust and patience in thoughts..